解脫道論 增長一切入與安定方便

The preceding passage says that one abiding in access should increase the kasiṇa, and that it should be increased in absorption or in the first jhāna. These three positions are not rearranged into separate stages here. This passage teaches three things: gradually increase the sign; for one unable to obtain absorption, give the two means of conditions and sustaining; and close the first practice with the sentence on accomplishment of the first jhāna.

From Finger-Joints to the Great Sea

Increase begins with the measure of four finger-joints. The treatise then lists eight similes—wheel, canopy, tree shade, field of merit, neighbor, village, outer wall, and city. What it explicitly says is “in this sequence, gradually cause it to increase”; it does not explain each simile. Rivers, mountains, and trees encountered on the way are not attended to. What increases is the perception of earth, not the shape of terrain. When it reaches the great sea, the mind's range becomes the most excellent concentration.

Two Prescriptions

For a person who has obtained access but cannot obtain absorption, the treatise gives no blame. It opens two prescriptions.

The conditioned means lists ten: making the place of observation clear; fully arousing the faculties; understanding the sign; restraining disturbance; subduing lassitude; the mind's lack of savor; gladdening the mind; the settled mind becoming equanimous; leaving those who do not learn concentration and approaching those who do; and delighting in absorption. When the mind lacks savor, the treatise gives two further ways, fear and gladness. The former observes birth, aging, death, and the four bad destinations; the latter recollects the benefits of Buddha, Dhamma, Saṅgha, virtue, giving, and deities. The source does not say they must be used successively. Under delighting in absorption, it gives the three similes of a deep source, rushing spring, and low tree without explaining them.

The sustaining means begins with skillfully understanding conditioned arising and entering a place of quietude. The source gives, in sequence, desire and delight, joy, ease, light, sorrow, quiet, equanimity, liberation, and a single flavor of dharma, and explicitly says, “through this sorrow, cause the mind to become quiet.” The attachments of 身意堪任有用, 悲傷, and 從無邊煩惱 remain unclear; the list is not rewritten as a definite causal ladder. At the close, skillful understanding of conditioned arising and sustaining the mind are placed together, and concentration is said to arise before long.

One Practice Completed

Secluded from desire and unwholesome dharmas, with applied thought and examination, with joy and bliss, one obtains the first jhāna. The source explicitly closes this as the benefit of the earth kasiṇa.

The passage says the sign is “gradually caused to increase,” that ten conditioned matters “give rise to absorption,” and that the sustaining section successively uses “from this arises” for joy, ease, and light. Each is understood within its own sentence.

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Shi Huijing · Waken · The Path of Freedom · Expanding the Kasiṇa and the Means to Absorption · Doorway · Summer 2026

Making the Kasiṇa Increase

Question: How should it be made to increase? Answer: beginning with the initial sign at the size of four finger-joints of the hand, it should gradually be increased. Directing attention in this way, gaining mastery in this way, and proceeding in this sequence—as a wheel, as a canopy, as the shadow of a tree, as a field of merit, as a neighbor and a village, as an outer wall and a city—one gradually causes it to increase until it pervades this great earth. Rivers, mountains, heights and depressions, trees, thorns, and every other uneven feature are not attended to. Even as far as the great sea, one directs attention to the perception of earth and continues increasing it. At that time the mind's range becomes the most excellent concentration.

Two Means to Absorption

If a meditator has obtained access to jhāna but cannot obtain absorption, that meditator should make the means to absorption arise in two ways: first through conditions and second through sustaining (受持).

The List of Ten Conditions

The means to absorption arises from conditions in ten ways: first, making the place of observation clear; second, fully arousing and observing the faculties; third, understanding the sign; fourth, restraining the mind's disturbance; fifth, subduing lassitude; sixth, the mind's lack of savor; seventh, gladdening the mind; eighth, the settled mind becoming equanimous; ninth, leaving those who do not learn concentration and approaching those who do; tenth, delighting in absorption.

1. Making the Place of Observation Clear

Question: How is a clear place of observation made? Answer: a distinct place is produced in three ways: one cultivates agreeable and well-adjusted food, agreeable timing, and agreeable deportment. None of the three is separately explained here.

2. Fully Arousing and Observing the Faculties

“Observation” means not allowing the five faculties beginning with faith to disappear and not becoming indolent, like a swift horse drawing a cart.

3. Understanding the Sign

“Understanding the sign” means skillfully holding the mental perception, neither tight nor loose, like a skilled craftsperson using a marking cord evenly and without bias. One skillfully understands 作意急離不離; the punctuation of these three expressions is not made clear here.

4. Restraining the Mind's Disturbance

“Restraining the mind and causing 調” here means restraining the mind's agitation. The treatise gives two conditions: first, vigor is excessive and effort too forceful, so the mind becomes agitated; second, one remains amid sexual desire or various disturbing signs, and the agitated intention increases. When excessive vigor causes agitation, the treatise says that the mind should be subdued in “two ways,” so that exertion remains moderate each time; those two ways are not separately enumerated. When one approaches a field of sexual desire or various signs and agitation increases, it again says to subdue it in “two ways,” followed only by observing and seeking out the many sufferings and evil results. Those two ways likewise are not listed item by item.

5. Subduing a Lethargic Mind

A lethargic mind is accomplished in two ways: because excellent concentration is not obtained, the mind lacks savor and becomes lethargic; when lethargy is abundant, one wishes to sleep. If this meditator does not obtain excellent concentration and becomes lethargic because the mind lacks savor, it should be subdued in two ways—observing benefits so as to arouse vigor. Lethargy, sleepiness, and a lazy mind can be subdued in four ways: if one has eaten much, take the perception of lethargy; change among the four deportments; direct one's own attention to the sign of light; and dwell in the open, causing the mind to become glad and no longer attached.

6–7. The Mind's Lack of Savor and Its Gladness

Lack of savor occurs in three ways: because skillful means are few, because wisdom is dull, and because the happiness of quietude has not been obtained. If the meditator's mind lacks savor, one causes it to become glad in two ways: through fear and through gladness. Observing birth, aging, death, and the four bad destinations, one sees many fearful things and the mind becomes sorrowful. Recollecting the Buddha, the Dhamma, the Saṅgha, virtue, giving, and deities, one sees the benefits of these six and the mind becomes glad. The source does not say that these two ways must be used successively.

8. The Settled Mind Becoming Equanimous

The settled mind becoming equanimous means that concentration on the ground outside jhāna is accomplished in two ways: first, the various hindrances are cut off and the mind becomes concentrated; second, the jhāna factors arise upon the ground that has been obtained and the mind becomes concentrated. The source then says that this meditator's mind is settled and that “in two ways it should be relinquished”; it follows with “not accomplished in abiding” and “moderate adjustment of skillful means.” How these phrases connect to “should be relinquished” is not clear.

9. Leaving Those Who Do Not Learn Concentration and Approaching Those Who Do

To leave people who do not learn concentration: whether absorption concentration, access concentration, or deportment concentration, such a person has none of these and neither cultivates nor learns them; such a person should not be supported or followed in practice. A person learning concentration has absorption concentration, access concentration, and deportment concentration; one should learn from and support that person. “Deportment concentration” is not defined here.

10. Delighting in Absorption

Delighting in absorption means that this meditator, like that deep source, like that rushing spring, and like that low tree, constantly delights, reveres, and cultivates much. The treatise does not explain the point of any of the three similes. By practicing these ten conditioned matters, absorption arises.

Sustaining as a Means to Absorption

Question: How can sustaining give rise to the means to absorption? Answer: the source first says that the meditator skillfully understands conditioned arising and enters a place of quietude. With respect to the sign understood, one is master according to the mind in the concentration being cultivated; desire and delight arise, causing the mind to be aroused.

The source then reads 從此身意堪任有用令得受持. How “body and intention,” “capable,” “useful,” and “causing sustaining to be obtained” connect is not explained here. The sentence therefore is not rewritten as though body and intention each acquire a definite separate use.

Next, joy, ease, light, and sorrow appear in sequence, and the source repeatedly says “the mind obtains sustaining” or “body and mind obtain sustaining.” Each sentence begins with 從生, but how 從 connects backward or forward remains indeterminate; the four are not turned into a fixed causal ladder. The next sentence explicitly says, “through this sorrow, cause the mind to become quiet,” and then speaks of skillfully taking the quiet mind and the mind obtaining sustaining. What “sorrow” denotes here, and how it follows light, are not explained. The following sentence says that, having skillfully taken it in this way, one brings about equanimity and the mind obtains sustaining.

The source next reads 從無邊煩惱，心得解脫成就受持. Whether “from boundless defilements” connects to what precedes or follows, and the relation within the sentence, cannot be determined. What follows in a certain order is this: through liberation, one becomes a single flavor of dharma; with a mind of one flavor, one sustains and cultivates; from this, the excellent mind increases. Abiding in sustaining in this way, the means to absorption arises. Skillfully understanding conditioned arising and sustaining the mind in this way, concentration arises before long.

Accomplishment of the First Jhāna and the Benefit of the Earth Kasiṇa

The meditator, secluded from desire and unwholesome dharmas, with applied thought and examination, the mind accomplished in a quiet place, with joy and bliss, obtains the first jhāna. This is the benefit of the earth kasiṇa.

Three Kinds of Seclusion

Here, regarding one secluded from desire, seclusion is of three kinds: bodily seclusion, mental seclusion, and seclusion from defilements.

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Shi Huijing · Waken · The Path of Freedom · Expanding the Kasiṇa and the Means to Absorption · Vernacular · Summer 2026

Once access is established, the preceding passage instructs that the kasiṇa should be increased. This passage answers how. After increase, it gives two means for the person who “has obtained access but cannot obtain absorption”—ten conditioned ways and sustaining—and continues through the accomplishment of the first jhāna, explicitly closing, “this is the benefit of the earth kasiṇa”〔T32 415a09〕.

The words “gradually,” “increase,” and “arise” recur at three points, each with its own syntactic referent. The section on increase says, “gradually cause it to increase until it pervades this great earth”〔T32 414b14〕. The section on ten ways closes, “practicing these ten conditioned matters gives rise to absorption”〔T32 414c25–26〕. The sustaining section successively reads, “from this arises joy,” “from this arises ease,” and “from this arises light”〔T32 414c29–415a01〕. The following exposition respects the source order: the sign increases from four finger-joints to the great sea; ten conditioned matters are listed; sustaining follows; and the passage closes with the benefit of the first jhāna and the three names bodily, mental, and defilement seclusion. The three kinds are explained only in the next unit.

Increase: From Four Finger-Joints to the Great Sea

Before the question, the source says: “Thus, when a meditator abides in access, the kasiṇa should be made to increase; whether in absorption or in the first jhāna, it should be made to increase”〔T32 414b09–10〕. What is certain is that one abiding in access should increase the kasiṇa, and the source separately names absorption and the first jhāna as positions of increase. This passage does not restrict increase to what follows absorption or independently decide its boundary with the stage of taking the sign. It then asks, “How should it be made to increase?” and answers, “Beginning with the initial sign as large as four finger-joints of the hand, it should gradually be increased”〔T32 414b11–12〕. The hand supplies the opening measure. A sequence of similes follows: “Directing attention in this way, gaining mastery in this way, and proceeding in this sequence—as a wheel, as a canopy, as the shadow of a tree, as a field of merit, as a neighbor, as a village, as an outer wall, as a city—in this sequence, gradually cause it to increase until it pervades this great earth”〔T32 414b12–14〕.

Wheel, canopy, tree shade, field of merit, neighbor, village, outer wall, and city—eight similes form a trajectory. Wheel and canopy are objects, tree shade a natural cover, field of merit cultivated ground, and neighbor, village, outer wall, and city human settlement. Connected by “in this sequence, gradually cause it to increase,” they carry the scale of the sign toward pervading the earth. The treatise lists them without explaining the point of each comparison. Sequence and gradual increase are certain. From finger-joints it expands to the earth and then “as far as the great sea, one directs attention to the perception of earth; as it increases, the mind's range becomes the most excellent concentration”〔T32 414b16–17〕.

Pause here: when increase encounters rivers, mountains, heights and depressions, trees, thorns, and other uneven features, why does the treatise say that none is attended to?〔T32 414b15–16〕. The next sentence answers in its own wording: even as far as the great sea, one attends to the perception of earth. What increases from beginning to end is the perception of earth, not the shape of terrain. Mountains and trees are forms upon earth, not what makes earth earth; attention takes the level perception and passes over uneven features. This continues the selection made in 08-02〔T32 412c10–14〕. There white, black, and red were excluded so that color did not change the practice; here terrain is not attended to so that form does not disturb the perception of earth. The object remains unmixed from disk to earth; only its scale changes.

Two Means and the Ten-Item List: A Method of Collation

“If a meditator has obtained access to jhāna but cannot obtain absorption, that meditator should make the means to absorption arise in two ways: first through conditions, second through sustaining”〔T32 414b17–19〕. This sentence is written for the person who has become stuck: access has been obtained, but absorption does not arrive. The treatise does not blame the person; it opens means. Conditions first yield ten items: “one, make the place of observation clear; two, fully arouse and observe the faculties; three, understand the sign; four, restrain the mind's disturbance; five, subdue lassitude; six, the mind lacks savor; seven, gladden the mind; eight, the settled mind becomes equanimous; nine, leave those who do not learn concentration and approach those who do; ten, delight in absorption”〔T32 414b20–23〕.

This supplies a method of reading: when a text first lists items and then explains them, copy the list and check each explanation back against it; mark every mismatch. Applied here, the fifth item reads “subdue lassitude,” while its heading reads “one who subdues a lethargic mind”〔T32 414c05–06〕. The tenth reads “delighting in absorption concentration,” while its heading reads “one delighting in absorption”〔T32 414c23〕. Six and seven, “the mind lacks savor” and “gladden the mind,” are separate list items, while the explanation combines them in one section〔T32 414c12–17〕. These three irregularities are preserved according to the base text. The marks themselves teach caution: wherever a name loosens from its explanation, read slowly rather than normalize it.

Explaining the Ten in Source Order

The ten explanations may now be read in their listed order.

A clear place and arousing the faculties. “A distinct place is produced in three ways: cultivating agreeable and well-adjusted food, agreeable timing, and agreeable deportment”〔T32 414b24–25〕. Clarity of place is connected with three ordinary matters: adjusted eating, appropriate timing, and agreeable deportment. None is separately explained. Then, “Observation means not allowing the five faculties beginning with faith to disappear and not becoming indolent, like a swift horse drawing a cart”〔T32 414b25–26〕. The source explicitly states the preservation of the faculties and absence of indolence and gives the swift-horse simile; it does not explain the gait of the horse or the driver's method.

Understanding the sign. “Skillfully hold the mental perception, neither tight nor loose, like a skilled craftsperson using a marking cord evenly and without bias”〔T32 414b27–28〕. The source states that the mental perception should be neither tight nor loose and compares it to a craftsperson's straight line; it does not assign a separate result to tightness or looseness. The punctuation of “善解作意急離不離”〔T32 414b28〕 cannot be determined here and receives no settled interpretation.

Restraining disturbance. 調 here continues the preceding senses of agitation and disturbance at 413c05–07, not adjustment; 調適 appears separately as a positive term in the same passage. Disturbance has two routes: “first, excessive vigor; second, at a place where the mind has gone beyond measure, the mind becomes disturbed. Or remaining amid sexual desire and various signs, agitated intention increases and becomes disturbance”〔T32 414b29–414c02〕. Excessive effort brings disturbance, and distracting objects bring disturbance. The former is the old fault of hasty exertion from 08-04 appearing again at the stage of absorption. For the first the source says, “in two ways the mind should be subdued, so that vigor arises with moderation each time”〔T32 414c03–04〕. For the second it says, “subdue it in two ways by observing and seeking out the many sufferings and evil results”〔T32 414c04–05〕. Both say “two ways” without enumerating two items. Their exact referents cannot be established and remain unresolved.

Subduing a lethargic mind. The treatise gives a sequence: “Because excellent concentration is not obtained, the mind lacks savor and therefore becomes lethargic; when lethargy is abundant, it wishes to sleep”〔T32 414c06–07〕. Lack of excellent concentration, lack of savor, lethargy, and sleep follow in order. Lethargy “should be subdued in two ways, namely observing benefits so as to arouse vigor”〔T32 414c08–09〕. A sleepy and lazy mind is subdued “in four ways”〔T32 414c10〕: for one who has eaten much, take the perception of lethargy; change among the four deportments; attend to the sign of light; and dwell in the open〔T32 414c10–11〕. The source lists observing benefits, arousing vigor, and the four ways of subduing sleep in this order.

Lack of savor and gladness. “Lack of savor occurs in three ways: because skillful means are few, because wisdom is dull, and because the happiness of quietude has not been obtained”〔T32 414c12–13〕. For a mind lacking savor, the treatise gives two ways: “first through fear, second through gladness”〔T32 414c14–15〕. Fear observes birth, aging, death, and the four bad destinations, sees what is fearful, and the mind becomes sorrowful. Gladness recollects the Buddha, Dhamma, Saṅgha, virtue, giving, and deities, sees the benefits of these six, and the mind becomes glad〔T32 414c15–17〕. The source gives the two ways and their respective objects and mental conditions. It does not say they must be used one after the other.

The settled mind becoming equanimous and choosing companions. “The settled mind becoming equanimous means that concentration on the ground outside jhāna is accomplished in two ways: by cutting off the hindrances the mind becomes concentrated; or by the jhāna factors arising upon the obtained ground the mind becomes concentrated”〔T32 414c17–19〕. The punctuation of “當捨非成住故、中方便調適故”〔T32 414c19–20〕 cannot be determined, so no settled interpretation is imposed. The ninth way concerns people. A person without absorption, access, or deportment concentration, who neither cultivates nor learns, is to be left and not followed or supported. A person who has all three should be learned from and supported〔T32 414c23〕. The source states leaving the former and learning from and supporting the latter; it does not derive a ruling on solitary or communal practice.

Delighting in absorption. “This meditator, like that deep source, like that rushing spring, like that low tree, constantly delights, reveres, and cultivates much”〔T32 414c24–25〕. The treatise gives the three similes without explaining their points. What is certain is the conduct immediately attached to them: constant delight, reverence, and much cultivation. It closes, “practicing these ten conditioned matters gives rise to absorption”〔T32 414c25–26〕. The ten remain, in source order, a clear place, arousing faculties, understanding the sign, restraining disturbance, subduing lethargy, lack of savor and gladness, the settled mind becoming equanimous, approaching those who learn concentration, and delighting in absorption.

Sustaining: Seven Repetitions of “The Mind Obtains Sustaining”

The second means is sustaining. Beginning, “The meditator skillfully understands conditioned arising and enters a place of quietude”〔T32 414c26–27〕, the source says that the sign understood is mastered according to the mind in the concentration being cultivated, and desire and delight arise and arouse the mind. It then reads, “from this, body and intention are capable and useful, causing sustaining to be obtained”〔T32 414c28–29〕. How 身意堪任, 有用, and 令得受持 connect remains unclear. Next come, in order, “from this arises joy and the mind obtains sustaining; from this arises ease and body and mind obtain sustaining; from this arises light and the mind obtains sustaining; from this arises sorrow and the mind obtains sustaining”〔T32 414c29–415a02〕. The order is certain, but the attachment of 從 in each sentence is not; no new causal ladder is imposed.

After the sorrow clause the treatise explicitly says, “through this sorrow, cause the mind to become quiet; skillfully taking the quiet mind, the mind obtains sustaining”〔T32 415a02–03〕. What sorrow denotes, and how it follows light, are not explained. The next clause, “from boundless defilements, the mind is liberated and accomplishes sustaining”〔T32 415a03–04〕, also has unresolved attachment. Only after this does the source explicitly list that liberation makes a single flavor of dharma; that with a mind of one flavor one sustains and cultivates; and that “from this, the excellent mind increases”〔T32 415a05–06〕. The sequence and explicit relationships are preserved, without more being supplied.

Checked sentence by sentence, the seven occurrences of “the mind obtains sustaining” attach in order to joy, ease, light, sorrow, quiet mind, equanimity, and one flavor〔T32 414c29–415a05〕. The ease clause names both body and mind. The quiet-mind clause first says sorrow causes the mind to become quiet and then says the quiet mind is skillfully taken. The one-flavor clause follows “through liberation one becomes a single flavor of dharma.” These orders and repetitions are source facts. How the seven arise from one another is not explained item by item.

“Skillfully understanding conditioned arising and sustaining the mind in this way, concentration arises before long”〔T32 415a06–07〕. “Before long” is the passage's only statement of time, given to the person stalled at access. The source first lists the two means and explains the ten conditions and sustaining; at the end, skillful understanding of conditioned arising and sustaining the mind stand together. Whether they are outer and inner, or used separately or together, cannot be determined here.

First Jhāna Accomplished, One Practice Completed

“The meditator, secluded from desire and unwholesome dharmas, with applied thought and examination, the mind accomplished in a quiet place, with joy and bliss, obtains the first jhāna. This is the benefit of the earth kasiṇa”〔T32 415a07–09〕. The first-jhāna sentence explicitly closes the benefit of the earth kasiṇa; the first practice is complete. The last sentence, “Regarding one secluded from desire, seclusion is of three kinds: bodily seclusion, mental seclusion, and seclusion from defilements”〔T32 415a09–10〕, gives the general heading. The individual explanations belong to the next passage.

Conclusion

The source order is clear: increase proceeds from four finger-joints toward the great sea; ten conditioned ways list a clear place, arousing the faculties, understanding the sign, restraining disturbance, subduing lethargy, lack of savor and gladness, equanimity, companions, and delight in absorption; and the sustaining passage repeatedly uses “arise” and “the mind obtains sustaining.” Three things may be carried forward: a cluster of words—gradually, increase, arise, each within its own source sentence; a method—collate list and explanation, marking without normalizing what does not match; and a location—the first-jhāna sentence explicitly closes the benefit of the earth kasiṇa.

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Shi Huijing · Waken · The Path of Freedom · Expanding the Kasiṇa and the Means to Absorption · Exposition · Summer 2026